Good For You
by turtleback
Summary: Post Season 7, two part story. Jane comes home for Thanksgiving and has some things to figure out.
1. Chapter 1

**Good For You**

 **Part I**

Pairing: Jane/Maura  
Rating: T  
Disclaimer: Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles do not belong to me.

 _A/N: A pretty bare bones post-Season 7 story. I've been thinking about this scenario for a while. Based on the time in the story, you can probably guess I had initially planned to post this a few months ago. I'm expecting one more chapter._

* * *

Jane was barely three steps inside Maura's house when her mother's arms were wrapped around her tightly. Over her mother's shoulder she saw Tommy getting up from the couch to come give her a hug as well. Maura was sitting on a chair with TJ in her lap. It looked like they had been reading a book. Maura bent down and said something into TJ's ear that caused him to get up and run over to Jane as well.

After hugging Tommy, Jane knelt to capture the running TJ in a hug. "Hey little buddy. What are you up to?"

"Reading a book with Aunt Maura."

"Yeah? Who's doing the reading?"

"Aunt Maura. She's real smart."

"She's the smartest person I know," Jane responded.

Tommy said, "We wanted to wait for you and welcome you home, but I gotta get the little guy to bed. Say goodnight to Jane, TJ."

TJ gave Jane another hug and said, "Goodnight, Aunt Jane." Then he ran over to Maura to give her a hug and say goodbye to her.

"We'll see you tomorrow, Jane," Tommy said before heading out the door.

Maura finally stepped forward to give Jane a tight hug and whisper, "Welcome home," against her ear.

Jane swallowed, momentarily unable to respond, while trying to ignore the warmth that spread through her body at Maura's touch. Once Maura pulled away she said, "I'm sorry I'm late. All flights out of DC were delayed. Did I miss dinner?"

"Yes," her mother answered from the kitchen, "but I kept a plate warm for you. Come sit and eat. Tell me everything."

Jane rolled her eyes at Maura. "Ma, we talk like twenty times a week. You know everything that's going on with me."

"We only talk once a week, but fine, I'll go and let you girls catch up. You'll help me in the kitchen tomorrow morning."

"Love you, Ma," Jane called to Angela's retreating back. Once she was gone, she turned to Maura and said, "That was weirdly easy."

Maura grinned. "I asked her to give us some time tonight to catch up."

"Ah, and yet she still managed to play me."

Maura laughed. "You're out of practice."

Jane sat down at the island and started eating while Maura poured a glass of wine for herself and pulled a beer out of the fridge for Jane, setting it down in front of her with a smile.

Picking at her food, Jane couldn't stop herself from saying, "So, Tommy and TJ looked awfully at home in your house. Are they over here a lot?"

"Your mother watches TJ some afternoons and usually Tommy stays for dinner when he picks him up. I'm not always here because of work, but sometimes we all have dinner together."

Jane made a noncommittal grunt. "They're not imposing on you too much are they? I can tell Tommy to back off."

"Of course not. I like getting to spend time with TJ. My house would be empty without them here."

Jane frowned but turned back to eating.

Maura rubbed a hand down Jane's back and said, "I'm going to shower and change, you do the same if you want when you finish eating, and then I'll meet you on the couch and we can catch up. Okay?"

"Okay, that sounds nice."

* * *

Half an hour later Jane sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Maura and pulled one end of the blanket over her legs. "So who will be here for Thanksgiving tomorrow?"

"Just Angela and Ron, Tommy and TJ, and Frankie and Nina."

"What about Korsak?"

"Vince and Kiki are traveling in Europe."

"Seriously? For how long?"

"They left about two weeks ago. They're traveling through Europe and then to India and China."

"Damn, I would never have guessed that's how Korsak would spend his retirement." Jane sighed. "I guess it really has been a while since I talked to him though. I know I've been terrible at calling people, even you. It's…I have been busy with work, you know that right?"

Maura nodded.

"But it turns out I really hate trying to keep in touch with everyone by phone. It makes me feel farther away from everyone."

"I think I can understand that," Maura said softly.

"But I'm here, and we have all kinds of things to talk about, so tell me everything. How's the book?"

Maura shrugged. "I worked on it the rest of the time I was in Paris after you left, but I lost some steam once I got home. Between work and volunteering at Hope's clinic I haven't had a lot of time to work on it."

"But I thought you had it all written and were editing. It must be in pretty good shape already. Are you going to let me read it yet?"

"I don't know. I think the editor I showed it to was just humoring me as a favor to my friend. It's probably not any good. I don't know if you should even bother reading it."

"Maur. I'm sure it's amazing."

Maura blushed and covered her face. "Ugh. I'll think about it, but I'm not making any promises. Enough about me. I want to hear about you. How is the job going? Are you settling in yet? Is it getting easier?"

"A little. It was a ton of work at first putting together lesson plans for each class. I don't know how you did it when you were teaching. Your classes were about a thousand times harder then mine. They gave me a curriculum to follow but I still needed to figure out how I wanted to teach each topic I have to cover. I think it's going well though."

"I'm not surprised. The students are lucky to have you. How is living in Virginia?"

"It isn't Boston," Jane said with a laugh. "It's alright. It's warmer, but humid all the time. I don't know. I haven't had much time to explore things, other than finding the best Chinese and Pizza places with delivery. I figured you would have visited by now, though. You want to come down in December?"

"You'll be back here again soon at Christmas," Maura deflected.

Jane grimaced. "That's a whole month from now. If you don't want to visit me, just say so."

"I want to visit you. I'm-" Maura sighed. "Honestly, I'm afraid that visiting will make it more real that you are actually gone. I know that this isn't very fair or healthy, but right now I can pretend it's only temporary. If I see you in your new home, that will be more difficult."

"I see."

"It's late," Maura said quickly while standing up. "We should probably go to bed."

"Yeah, okay, but do you know anything about our plans for Friday and Saturday?"

"I'm working Friday."

"Oh. So, Saturday?"

"I volunteer at the clinic on Saturdays. You know that."

"Even Thanksgiving weekend?"

"Yes, even on Thanksgiving weekend. But I told everyone else that Saturday evening is for just the two of us to spend time together."

"Okay."

"I know Angela and your brothers have plans for you the rest of the time you're home anyway."

"Great," Jane deadpanned.

"Everyone is happy to have you home, Jane."

"I know, and I'm happy to be here. I'm gonna stay up a little longer. Go ahead to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay. Goodnight."

"'Night, Maura."

* * *

The next few days went quickly. Jane had plenty of time to catch up with her mother and brothers. She heard all about Frankie and Nina's wedding plans, more than she really needed to hear; Tommy's plans for staying in Boston long-term and having TJ be both a super genius and baseball star, both of which Maura were somehow a key part of; and her mother and Ron's future plans.

It was all fairly normal Rizzoli chaos. Sometimes it felt totally normal to Jane and other times she felt acutely aware of the distance she had created between herself and her family in just a short period of time.

Saturday evening, Jane lay on the bed in Maura's guest room, staring at the ceiling and trying to piece together everything she was feeling.

When Maura came home that was where she found Jane. She sat down on the bed next to her and said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jane answered unconvincingly.

"I don't believe you."

Jane smiled meekly. "I guess this weekend has been a little different than I expected."

"I'm sorry. I should have taken more time off."

"No, no, it's not that. I guess…I guess I'm surprised at how different things seem here."

"What do you mean?" Maura asked gently.

"Frankie and Nina have their own life now. Tommy has his shit together. Ma and Ron seem really happy together. Korsak is traveling the world. You're working with Hope all the time. We don't even really talk that much anymore."

"Jane, you left. What did you think would happen?"

Jane sat up on the bed and ran her hands over her face and through her hair before answering. "I don't know. I didn't really think about it at all, I guess. I didn't know how this would all feel. Do you think I made a mistake taking the job at Quantico?"

"I don't think I can answer that, Jane. I don't think I understand why you took the job. You didn't really say much about it."

"You didn't say much about it or say anything to discourage me when I was offered the job."

"And you never asked for my opinion. You seemed excited about the opportunity. I would never have stood in the way of that." Maura sighed and looked away. "I wouldn't have been able to give you an objective opinion anyway. My opinion would have been selfishly wanting you to stay here with me." When Jane didn't respond and their silence stretched on, Maura finally said, "Did you think about me at all before deciding to leave Boston?"

"Yeah, I did," Jane said softly. "I thought about you having to get brain surgery when you got hurt because a crazy person was after me. I thought about you almost dying—more than once—because of me."

"I didn't ask you to do that. I didn't ask you to change or leave or do anything differently. I don't need you to make decisions for me, Jane. I don't need you to protect me."

After a long moment, Jane said, "You're right. I made the decision to leave. I'm not going to put that on you. Whether the reasons were good or bad, it was my choice. But I don't want you to hide things from me either. I need my best friend. Please tell me when I'm being stupid."

"I'll try," Maura agreed.

"Can we still have a nice evening together?"

"Yes. I wanted to take you out. I was thinking we could go over to the Dirty Robber."

"I don't want to go anywhere we'll run into a bunch of people who are going to interrupt us. I just want to spend tonight with you. Let's just walk down to Charles Street and find someplace to eat."

* * *

Walking back up the hill to Maura's house after dinner, Maura leaned into Jane and linked their arms together. It was colder now, but she was warm from the bottle of wine they shared. Although now she wondered if she hadn't had more than her fair share. Dinner had been too lovely to pay close attention to how much wine she was consuming.

Jane had led them to a small bistro with candlelit tables, where they talked and laughed and shared a great meal. It was intimate and, if she was totally honest with herself, the whole dinner felt romantic. For the first time in months, it felt like they were connecting the way they used to. The warmth, Maura realized, wasn't from the wine. It was because she was happy.

At the door to the house, before Maura had a chance to unlock her door, Jane stopped her and took Maura's hands in her own.

"Listen, I left because I thought I needed to make a change. It seemed like everyone else was moving on, doing new things, and I felt stuck. Things just didn't seem to be working out right here. I thought a big change would help. But I was looking for the wrong type of change, and I was looking in the wrong place. I've thought about you and us all weekend and I think I figured out my mistake." She put a hand against Maura's cheek and leaned closer, their breathes mingling. But Maura turned her head away and stepped back.

"Maur?"

"I can't-"

"But-"

"No, I can't. I can't bear the thought of you finally kissing me and then leaving me again. I'm sorry, but I can't do it, Jane."


	2. Chapter 2

**Good For You**

 **Part II**

Pairing: Jane/Maura  
Rating: T  
Disclaimer: Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles do not belong to me.

 _A/N: Thanks for being patient. Again, this is pretty bare bones, just Jane and Maura working out their post-Season 7 issues. Maybe I'll post an epilogue someday, but no promises._

* * *

Maura finished her nightly bedtime routine and got into bed. She picked up her cell phone, checking to see if she had missed any texts or calls, fully knowing she hadn't. She wasn't sure what she was even expecting. She'd barely spoken to Jane since Thanksgiving weekly. They exchanged a few texts over the past few weeks and made plans for this coming Christmas week holiday. She had been hoping there would be more of an attempt from Jane to talk to her before they'd be back together, but that hadn't happened.

Maura had painstakingly replayed the conversation on her front porch a hundred times in her head, wondering if she'd made a huge mistake in how she responded, both then and the following day. That night they'd gone inside to find the house full with Jane's family. Maura had slipped upstairs at the first opportunity, leaving Jane with her family, and after that they'd only managed one moment of privacy before Jane left.

 _After breakfast Sunday morning, Jane followed Maura upstairs to her bedroom and closed the door behind them. "Um…should we talk? I don't know how we left things last night. I don't know what to do."_

 _Maura wasn't sure what to say or whether she wanted to get into this conversation again. "You look tired. Were you up late with your brothers?"_

 _"Not really. But I didn't sleep much last night. Honestly, I'm not really sure what happened. I thought we felt the same way and that seems like it should be a good thing."_

 _"You can't keep making decisions that affect me without including me in the decision making process."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"Last night. Moving away. Coming to Paris."_

 _"You didn't want me to come to Paris?"_

 _"That's not the point. The problem is you didn't give me a choice."_

 _"So you're mad about Paris?" Jane huffed._

 _Maura sighed. "I had a wonderful time in Paris with you. But it was supposed to be time to work on myself and think about what I wanted in life, and I couldn't do that with you there."_

 _"Why not? You could have talked to me about it."_

 _"No, I couldn't have. Figuring out what I want in life is also figuring out how to get over you."_

 _"Get over me?"_

 _"Yes, get over you," Maura replied in exasperation. "Because I love you."_

 _"Well I love you too," Jane shot back, irritation overriding common sense. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. I love you. I want to be with you. I want us to be together."_

 _This only made Maura angrier. "You left, Jane, and this—whatever this is that's happening this weekend with you, is not good for me. You can't leave and expect everything to go how you want it to when you change your mind."_

Maura was startled out of her memory by the sound of the doorbell ringing. She pulled on her robe and went downstairs. Pulling back the curtain on the window to the side of the door, she saw Jane standing on her front porch, shifting her weight back and forth on either foot impatiently. She opened the door and said, "Jane? I thought you were arriving tomorrow."

Jane breezed past Maura into the house and dropped her duffle bag on the floor. "I know. I, um…I came a day early, and I wasn't going to tell anyone, but I really need to talk to you."

"I don't understand. What aren't you telling anyone?"

Instead of answering, Jane asked, "Is anyone else here?"

"No, it's just me. What's going on?"

"Can we sit and talk?"

"Sure. Do you want something to drink? I have beer for you."

"Um, yeah, that would be great."

"Go sit in the living room, I'll be right there."

Maura went to the kitchen and leaned against the counter for a moment, taking a deep breath. She didn't want to open any of the bottles of wine she had for Christmas so she pulled two beers out of the fridge and popped the tops off. She took a long drink from one, wrinkling her nose at the bitter taste she still hadn't quite grown accustomed to. She pulled her robe tighter around her and carried the two bottles to the living room, passing one to Jane, and sitting down on the opposite end of the couch from her, folding her legs in front of her as she settled into the corner of the couch.

"So, what's all this about?" Maura asked.

Jane took a sip of beer and then put it down on the end table, turning her full attention to Maura. "I have a meeting at the Boston FBI office tomorrow."

"Why?"

"To discuss some potential job openings."

"Does that mean you're going to move back to Boston?"

"Maybe. That's why I want to talk to you."

"What about Quantico and your teaching job?"

"The teaching has been fine, but it's not really my thing," Jane said. "Honestly, I'm kinda bored with it. I miss working cases. I've committed to teaching through the next new agent class, but I'll be finished by the summer. I've already told my supervisors, but the FBI is interested in keeping me and has some openings they want me to consider."

"In Boston?"

"Technically Boston and a few other cities. They're looking at me for positions in the counterterrorism and public corruption units. They're good opportunities."

"What does this have to do with me? What do you want to talk to me about?"

Jane put her largely ignored beer down and focused all of her attention on Maura. "I know I've made a bunch of mistakes, but I meant everything I said last time I was here. I love you. I'm sorry it took me so long to figure it out, but I want to come back here to be with you. The thing is…if you tell me you don't want the same thing, I don't know if I can come back to Boston and go back to the way things were before. So I want to know if we have a chance at a relationship?"

Maura sat quietly, contemplating how to respond. Finally she said, "So you're putting this all on me, this decision about whether you're going to move back to Boston, to where I am and also all of your family is? I'm supposed to make a decision now about our relationship to determine your future?"

"That's not-" Jane started to say, but Maura interrupted her.

"What if we try and a relationship doesn't work out between us? Are you going to leave again."

"Why wouldn't it work out?" Jane asked earnestly.

Maura shrugged a little. She was trying to maintain some semblance of control of this conversation, but Jane's confidence was unnerving her. "Most relationships don't last. Even if we want everything to work out a certain way, I can't give you any assurances about our future."

"I have no intention of making the mistake of leaving you again," Jane responded seriously.

Maura laughed lightly and shook her head. "I want to be so angry with you right now."

"But?" Jane said hopefully.

"I always thought you knew how I felt. I thought you didn't say anything to spare my feelings or, I don't know, just because you didn't want to have an awkward conversation. But I thought you must know. I want to be angry with you because it's easier than being angry with myself for never admitting to you my feelings."

Jane moved across the couch to sit right next to Maura and took hold of her hand. "I didn't know. Or maybe I did on some level but I guess I needed to figure out my own feelings first. I think I needed to have some time away from you to understand what you really mean to me. I'm not trying to force you to make any decisions for me. I just want you to understand how serious I am about this."

Maura leaned forward, putting a hand against Jane's cheek, and then kissing her lips softly before saying, "Come home, Jane. We'll figure everything out together."

Jane smiled and pulled Maura back for another kiss, pulling her in close by threading her fingers through the soft hair at the base of her neck. She parted her lips, and Maura responded, deepening the kiss. She sighed when Maura broke off the kiss with another quick peck to her lips.

"That's really nice," Jane said softly.

Maura leaned back, one hand staying on Jane's upper arm, and said wistfully, "This summer?"

"Yeah. We have a whole week together now, although I think I have a new understanding of why you stopped me from kissing you at Thanksgiving."

"Why aren't you looking at going back to BPD?" Maura asked.

Jane took a deep breath before saying, "Oh, um, I still think a change is going to be good for me. I want new challenges and experiences. Plus, I'm not sure if we'd still be able to work together."

"Why not?"

"I mean, I don't know what the rules are, or if there are any rules about relationships between the Medical Examiners office and homicide detectives, but I can imagine a defense attorney having a field day talking about us colluding on evidence or something like that."

"That's ridiculous. We would never do that."

"I know, but you know how those things can go. The FBI won't let me anywhere near organized crime."

"Why?"

Jane just raised her eyebrows in response.

"Because of me? Because of Paddy Doyle?"

"Yes, and our history with him."

"That's even more ridiculous."

"The Boston FBI office doesn't have the best record with the mob, so it is what it is."

"I'm sorry if I'm limiting your job options."

"No, not at all. There's plenty of other departments and units and task forces. I'll see how things go tomorrow. Something will work out."

Maura squeezed Jane's arm. "Speaking of tomorrow, do you want to stay here tonight?"

Jane looked up at the clock on Maura's mantle. "Shit, it's late. I've got a hotel reservation, but yeah, if you don't mind, that would be great. I've got an early start in the morning."

"You don't ever have to ask to stay here. Go ahead upstairs, I'll be right up."

Maura turned off lights, made sure the doors were locked, and then went up to her bedroom. She finished getting ready for bed herself and then went down the hall to the guest room where she could hear Jane moving around. Jane was already in shorts and a t-shirt for sleeping and had somehow already completely taken over the guest room.

Leaning in the doorway to the room, Maura said, "Jane?"

"Yeah," Jane responded while focused on unpacking and hanging up clothes for the following day's interviews.

"I was thinking that you might want to sleep with me tonight."

Jane dropped the shirt she was trying to hang up and said, "What?"

Maura smiled and said, "Just sleep, in my bed. With me. It might be nice. I'm not suggesting anything else."

Jane sheepishly picked up the shirt from the floor and said, "Oh, uh, yeah. Let me finish unpacking, I'll be there in a minute."

When Jane got under the covers of Maura's bed a few minutes later, Maura curled up to her side, slung a leg across her hips, and draped an arm over her stomach. "Is this okay?"

"Hold on," Jane said. She shifted them both so she could put her arm around Maura and Maura could rest her head against Jane's chest. "Good?"

"Mm hmm," Maura murmured and tilted her head to press a kiss to Jane's jaw.

Jane moved a hand to Maura's thigh and was surprised to find bare skin. She moved her hand as high as she dared before saying, "Um, are you not wearing pants?"

"Mm hmm," Maura murmured again.

"Is this your normal sleeping attire?"

"It depends."

Jane rolled onto her side so they were face to face. She moved her hand along Maura's bare arm and then to her stomach, feeling the silky material of Maura's camisole. "Depends on what?"

"Mostly on whether you're going to be in bed with me."

Jane laughed. "Interesting."

Opening her eyes, Maura put a hand against Jane's sternum. "We need to take things slowly."

"I know, and I agree. But I think it's going to be a long next five or six months. Will you at least come visit me now?"

"Probably," Maura said, smiling as she kissed Jane's lips. "At least we can keep doing that. But now, we're going to sleep. Goodnight, Jane," she said with another kiss before turning over, linking her fingers with Jane's over her abdomen as Jane pulled their bodies tightly together.


End file.
